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Chapter Nineteen
"Finally," Colleen murmured as she reached to remove the black mask from the man she was dancing with. They swirled to the left and suddenly Colleen awoke from her reoccurring dream as she plummeted towards the ground, falling off the couch.
"Ow!" she said, her face in the carpet. "Where the hell am I?" she asked groggily.
"Shut up, Nick," Kevin mumbled from the couch. Colleen's eyes widened.
"Kevin?" she asked bewilderedly. She sat up, finally realizing that she was still in the family room. She looked over and saw Kevin, sleeping. Drooling a little, actually, Colleen thought with a smile. She sat there thinking for a little about what the day was supposed to be filled with.
"Shopping," Colleen remembered. She stood up, stretching and then leaned over to wake up Kevin.
"Kevin, Kevin. Wake up," she said softly, brushing his hair back from his forehead. He opened his eyes and stared at her blindly.
"Morning," Colleen said with a smile.
"Morning," Kevin replied softly, trying to get awake.
"Hey we have to go shopping, it's . . ." She checked her watch. "Nine in the morning."
Kevin nodded. "Okay," he replied, still laying on the couch. "Why am I on the couch?" he asked.
Colleen smiled. "I think we fell asleep here during the movie last night," she told him.
Kevin smiled. "We did? So that's why I slept so nice," he told her as he sat up.
"Me too," Colleen replied as she pulled him to his feet. "Now let's go take showers and get ready," she said as she pulled him towards the stairs. They walked up and Colleen went into her bathroom and Kevin into his.Kevin passed Nick and Brian who were getting dressed and walked straight into the shower.
"So Kevin, did you sleep good last night?" his cousin asked with a smile.
"Fine," Kevin called from the bathroom as he turned on the shower.
"I'll say," Nick stated with a grin. Brian laughed.
They left Kevin in the shower and went downstairs to where the rest where sitting eating donuts, eggs, and other things that Morgan had prepared.
They talked until Colleen and Kevin joined them and then finished up and walked out to the garage.
"Hey we still have Mom and Dad's van, we can all get in that so we don't have to take two cars," Shannon suggested. They all nodded and loaded in, Colleen driving.
"Speaking of Mom and Dad, they invited us to dinner tonight. Dad's going to have a barbecue and then we can go horseback riding. Sound good?" she asked.
"Sounds great," Brian replied. "I haven't gone horseback riding in a long time."
"Here Colleen, pop this CD in," Shannon offered, handing her a CD. Colleen did so and soon the car was filled with the opening sounds of the La Femme Nikita soundtrack.
"This is cool," Brian commented listening to music of Enigma.
"You should see the show," Ryan said. "It is the coolest show on television. Colleen and Shannon have every episode on tape."
"We will have to watch it," Nick said, interested in what was so cool about the show to have every episode on tape.
Colleen pulled into the parking lot of Hawthorne mall where they all unloaded.
"So where to first?" Ryan asked as they walked in through the front entrance. Morgan and Shannon looked at each other.
"Hey Shannon do you have my hat?" Morgan asked as Shannon nodded and handed Morgan's black baseball to her. Morgan put it on, sinking it low on her head.
"We are going to see you guys around," Morgan said. Shannon nodded.
"Yeah, no offense but we sorta don't want to shop with you guys. Too much attention and too risky." She smiled sheepishly. "Plus we don't want our friends to see us hanging with the Backstreet Boys. You have know idea how much crap we will get for it," Shannon said as she and Morgan backed away and then took off walking. The guys just stood there.
"Um, well," Kendall said, biting her lip. Colleen coughed.
"Hey, you know what we need to pick up? Our costumes for the costume party," Ryan reminded everyone while successfully changing the subject.
"What party?" Howie asked interestedly.
"Our friend Shaun is throwing a costume party. Hey do you want to be our dates?" Colleen asked with a grin. Kevin pretended to think about it.
"I don't know," he said, rocking back and forth on his heels. Colleen looked at him.
"Fine. Howie, want to be my date?" she asked with a smirk as Kevin looked at her sharply.
Howie nodded. "Sure, you don't have to ask me twice," he said with a grin.
"I don't think Howie will be available though," Kevin stated giving his buddy a menacing look. "So you will have to go with me," he said as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Colleen rolled her eyes.
"Hey it's Silver Works, my favorite store," Colleen said, pointing to the store across the aisle. They walked into the store, the guys making sure their caps were firmly on their heads.
"Hey A.J. Come look at these earrings," Ryan called. A.J. walked over and saw a pair of small silver hoops that had hieroglyphics engraved on them.
"They're awesome," A.J. said, smiling. Then he gave Ryan a dirty look.
"Let me guess, they are better than my pirate hoops," he said. Ryan looked at him, wondering why he was giving her attitude.
"Actually yeah. But if you don't like them, fine," she retorted as she walked away. A.J. sighed.
He looked at the price of the pair of earrings.
"Forty bucks. Not bad. I think I'll get them" he said to himself as he took them up to the cashier. He bought them and removed his big hoops, replacing them with the new small hoops. He put his old earrings in his pocket and joined the rest of the group.
"You guys ready to go to the next store?" A.J. asked. Ryan looked at him and smiled as she saw his new earrings.
"Yeah, let's go," she said as she started walking out of the store. They kept walking when they realized Brian wasn't with them. They stopped and looked around until they saw him running towards them.
"Yo B-rok, what were you doing?" Nick asked. Brian shrugged and subtly put the package he was carrying into his jacket pocket.
"Nothing. What's next?" he replied, changing the subject. Ryan looked at him for a moment and then shrugged.
"What about Jay Jacobs?" she suggested.
Colleen grinned. "Awesome. That's my favorite store," she said.
Howie rolled his eyes. "How many favorite stores do you have?" he asked.
"I meant my favorite clothing store," she clarified. "Everything is seventy percent off. I LOVE deals," she explained. Howie and A.J. nodded.
"I know what you mean. There is nothing more satisfying than finding an awesome sale," Howie replied.
Kendall snorted. "Howie, are you sure that you're not gay?" she asked as she walked by. Howie tripped her and Kendall started laughing as she tried to regain her balance.
"Howie, you know I love you," Kendall said as Howie helped steady her.
"Ahhh, Kendall you care," Howie replied as he walked into the store. The rest laughed.
They split up in the store, grabbing clothing as they worked their way to the changing rooms. Colleen, Ryan, and Kendall grabbed their stack of clothing and started trying things on.
"Oh my gosh, I look like a tavern wench," Colleen said as she walked out of her fitting room to the wall of mirrors in the common area. She was laughing at her reflection when Ryan called out.
"Colleen, can you get me a smaller size on that blue skirt I grabbed?" she asked her cousin from her fitting room.
"Sure," Colleen said as she walked out to get it. Nick was looking at some sweatshirts with he saw her. He whistled.
"Looking good," he called out. Colleen made a funny face at him.
She started looking for the blue skirt that Ryan had wanted when she saw Kevin talking to the salesgirl. She snuck behind a rack of clothes and watched as Kevin and the gorgeous salesgirl were flirting with each other.
She couldn't hear what they were saying but the salesgirl was holding up a tight shirt to Kevin's chest, laughing and smiling at him. He was laughing and smiling right back, even reaching out his hand to closely inspect the girl's interesting necklace.
Colleen's breath caught as she felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. She felt tears coming to her eyes when someone tapped her shoulder from behind.
"Excuse me, can I help you find something?" a male voice asked. Colleen turned around to come face to face with a gorgeous guy. He was tall with black hair that had streaks of red running through the spikes. He had a ballchain choker on and a earring piercing the top of his ear. He wore a pair of baggy jeans and a tight gray beater under a Hawaiian shirt.
"Well I don't know. I was looking for a blue skirt," she said, smiling, trying to hide any evidence of tears in her eyes. "Can you help me find it . . . ?"
He grinned. "Steven. Sure . . ."
"Colleen."
"Colleen. I think there is some over here," he said leading her over to a rack.
"Thanks." She grabbed the skirt she had been looking for when she caught him looking at her outfit.
"Yeah, I look like a tavern wench," she joked, gesturing to outfit.
He looked at her white shirt with a ruffled peasant neck, showing plenty of cleavage and short black skirt.
"Well, a stunning tavern wench," he told conceded. Colleen laughed.
"Thanks. You know I really like your necklace. My sister Shannon has one like it. She wears it all the time. Where did you get it?" she asked and they got involved in a conversation.
Meanwhile, Ryan had been waiting for Colleen to come back with her blue skirt for so long that she exited the fitting rooms, dressed in a long black skirt and violet shirt that she had been trying on. She scanned the room when she saw Kevin talking to the salesgirl, or rather flirting. Her eyes narrowed and she headed straight for the tall man.
"Kevin," she interrupted the conversation as she laid her hand on Kevin's shoulder. Kevin turned towards her with a smile.
"Hey Ryan, man that's an awesome outfit. You should get it," he told her as he scanned her outfit. Ryan shrugged.
"Yeah, I'm thinking about it." She turned and gave a pointed look to the salesgirl who finally got the clue to leave. Ryan turned back to Kevin.
"Have you seen Colleen? I sent her to get a smaller sized skirt about twenty minutes ago," she told him. Kevin shook his head.
"No, I haven't. I was talking to Mindy," he told her.
Ryan looked at him. "Yeah, I could see that," she said dryly. "Well, I'm going to find her," Ryan said as she started walking around the store. Kevin followed her.
They finally reached the section where Ryan had picked up the skirt and was greeted with the sight of Colleen deep in conversation with some guy.
Ryan raised her eyebrows as she saw how good-looking the guy was that Colleen was talking too. Kevin hadn't noticed him yet because he was busy looking at Colleen's revealing outfit.
"Wow, looks like Colleen struck gold," Ryan murmured softly. Kevin looked up from Colleen's legs and followed Ryan's gaze to Steven.
He clenched his jaw as he saw them laughing together.
"Yeah," he replied tightly to Ryan just as Colleen started laughing again.
She replied, saying something that made the guy laugh hilariously.
Kevin's eyes narrowed as he grabbed Ryan's hand and walked over to Colleen.
"Hi," he said shortly, interrupting the conversation. Colleen looked at him, no emotion on her face.
"Hi," she replied calmly back while inside she was mad just looking at Kevin. She saw Ryan standing there and smiled. "Hey, here's your skirt. Sorry it took so long. Ryan, this is Steven," she said, making the introductions. "Oh and Kevin," she said, flipping a hand in Kevin's direction as she didn't even look at him. Kevin frowned at her dismissal.
"Yeah. Colleen, can I talk to you?" he asked briskly. Colleen looked at him and shrugged.
"Sure. Thanks for the help Steven," she said with a smile. Steven smiled back.
"Yeah, anytime," he said as Colleen nodded. She then turned and walked off with Kevin.
"What was that?" he asked her, turning her towards him and looking her in the eye. She stared right back.
"What? I was talking to a nice guy," she asked, confused.
"Since when was that just considered talking? It looked a lot like flirting to me," he accused. Colleen quirked an eyebrow.
"Um, No. That was talking, unlike you and that salesgirl. That certainly wasn't talking, that was flirting," she said angrily. Kevin stared at her uneasily.
Colleen just looked at him as Kevin tried to figure out something to say in reply. She shook her head finally, as Kevin didn't speak for several minutes and went back to the fitting room and changed back into her jeans and tank top.
"I'm going to Claire's, Ryan. I'll be there when you are finished shopping," she said as she walked out. She stormed past Brian and Howie checking out some pants and shoved past Nick who shot a bewildered look at her.
"What was that?" Howie wondered, watching as Colleen exited the store and started walking to Claire's across the way. Brian shook his head.
"That was Colleen leaving before she physically hurt your cousin," Ryan announced as she walked up to the guys with a pile of clothing in her arms.
"What happened?" Nick asked, putting back the hat he was trying on and turning towards Ryan.
Ryan looked over at Kevin who was in the corner of the store examining some shirts.
"Your buddy over there was flirting with the salesgirl like she was the last woman on earth and Colleen saw it. But then she is just talking to the guy who works here and Kevin gets angry, like he had any right," she said scornfully. She continued. "So when she called him on the flirting, he couldn't think of anything to say. So Colleen left," Ryan summed up. A.J. looked over at Kevin.
"Man, I don't know what his problem is," A.J. murmured with a disgusted look. "Well, I'm going to go hang with Colleen, like before when this happened the first time," he stated and walked out. A.J. continued over to Claire's, a teenybopper store but a great place to find cheap cool necklaces and earrings. Downside was, the place was plastered with NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Five, Spice Girls, and other pop paraphernalia.
"Jeesh, Colleen, walking into to here is liking asking to be recognized," A.J. whispered harshly as he walked around a rack of T-shirts with their faces on it. Colleen looked up from the hemp necklace she was thinking of buying and smiled.
"Really, why is that A.J.?" she said loudly as A.J. ran up to her and slapped his hand over her mouth.
"Shut up, that isn't funny," he reprimanded. Colleen smiled.
"Why are you here?" she asked as she picked up another necklace. A.J. shrugged.
"I heard what happened with Kevin," he replied softly. Colleen turned her face away sharply as tears threatened to escape again.
"I don't know what is happening with him, A.J.," she murmured softly.
"Ninety percent of the time, I feel that we are both in the same place, wanting the same things but then he will suddenly just pull away from me. I just don't want to be the only one who cares in this, well whatever you would call what we are in," she told him as she walked over to a rack of necklaces that portrayed the BSB's names.
A.J. followed her. "Colleen, you're not. It's obvious just by looking at Kevin that he cares for you. It's just hard, you know?" He sighed. "I mean, we are always on the road, we hardly see our family let alone any relationships that we might develop. Maybe he is just scared of getting attached and then having to leave," he told her.
Colleen laughed, shakily. "Oh, well that comforts me," she replied. A.J. was about to continue when they overheard two girls talking.
"Do you think I should get this necklace?" one girl asked the other holding up a necklace with AJ's name on it. Colleen smiled and nudged A.J., pointing to make sure that he saw what the girl had.
"Well, he is your favorite," the other girl replied.
The girl nodded. "Yeah, all day long all I do is think about my baby," she said softly, looking at the necklace. AJ's eyes widened as he heard the young girl talk and he turned to Colleen, who was trying not to laugh.
"That is so sweet," she whispered to him. AJ nodded. "I think I'm going to talk to her," Colleen told him. AJ grabbed her arm.
"What? Don't do that," he said. He looked towards the doorway of the store and saw about twenty young girls troupe in. He groaned. "Great. Fan central and look, it gets better, here comes the rest of the gang," he said, nodding towards where Ryan, Kendall, and the rest were walking in. Colleen shrugged and walked over to the girl who had been talking.
"So you like the Backstreet Boys?" she asked the girl. The girl looked up at her.
"Yeah. Why?" she asked suspiciously. Colleen smiled.
"Well, I do to," she informed the girl. The girl smiled in relief.
"Cool. Which is your favorite?" she asked Colleen. Colleen thought about it.
"Well, I can't really choose. I would have to say Kevin but I like all of them," she replied to the girl, unaware that Kevin was right behind her. Kevin stood still as he heard Colleen say that he was her favorite, and he wondered how she could say that right after they had had a huge fight.
"Because that is the kind of girl she is," Brian said softly. Kevin jumped.
"How did you know what I was thinking?" he asked his cousin, who just smiled.
"So who is your favorite?" Colleen asked the girl, already knowing the answer.
"AJ," the girl replied. Colleen nodded.
"Yeah, he's pretty cute," she commented as she looked at AJ who was rolling his eyes at her. "He's also seems like a really nice guy," she said with a grin. AJ smiled at her.
The little girl nodded, not seeing Colleen's gaze. "Yeah, plus he is so sexy with his tattoos," she said. Colleen grinned.
"Sexy, huh? Well what about the other guys?" she asked as the guys they were talking about tried to get closer to see what the girl's response was.
"I think Brian is really cute," another girl offered who had been listening to the conversation.
"Yeah, but Howie's the best," another girl stated. A couple of other girls shook their heads.
"No, Nick is the hottest," they said as Nick shook his head in agreement.
"Yeah, they know what's hot," he whispered to Kendall.
Kendall punched him in the arm. "Well I see the ego returned."
"No, Nick has too much baby fat," one girl piped up and Nick's face flushed. Kendall started laughing.
"And there goes the ego," she said as Nick kicked her foot.
"Don't make me have to hurt you," he whispered.
Meanwhile AJ who had been listening to the conversation backed up, accidentally bumping into a girl.
"Sorry," he said to her, catching her by the arms so that she wouldn't fall over.
The girl looked up to say it was okay and recognized the face under the baseball cap. Her eyes darted from his face to one of their T-shirts. AJ saw that she had recognized him and started panicking.
"Don't say anything," he pleaded to the girl who was already beyond listening to him.
"Oh my gosh, you're AJ from the Backstreet Boys," she said. "YOU'RE AJ!" she yelled loudly, jumping up and down. AJ looked around as the conversation with Colleen suddenly stopped and all the girls stared at him.
Recognition dawned on the girls' faces as screaming broke out as other girls spotted Brian, Howie, Nick, and Kevin.
"IT'S THE BACKSTREET BOYS!" a girl yelled as the guys exchanged glances.
"Uh oh," Nick said as he grabbed Kendall's hand and started running, the rest following. Colleen stood there shocked at the girls' actions when Kevin picked her up and started running too. The little girl that Colleen had been talking too stared at her in amazement as she saw the girl she had been having a conversation with run off with a real Backstreet Boy.
Quickly the girls followed on foot, running after them as the gang took off down the mall. Teenagers across the mall quickly heard and saw what was happening and joined the chase so that a huge mob was now following them.
Meanwhile Morgan and Shannon were in Gadzooks, looking at shirts when they saw Brian, Kendall, Ryan, Nick, Howie, Kevin, AJ, and Colleen run by. They stared after them, wondering what was going on, when suddenly a huge crowd of people ran by also.
Shannon and Morgan looked at each other when Morgan suddenly realized something.
"They're our ride," she said loudly. And they took off running, dropping the clothes they had been holding. Morgan and Shannon took a shortcut, dodging through people and ending up in front of the exit.
Meanwhile, the rest had made it to the parking lot and Colleen was grabbing for her purse, trying to find the car keys as she ran towards the van, trying not to lose their short lead on the crowd. Quickly she opened the doors and they jumped in when they remembered Morgan and Shannon.
"There they are," Howie said as he pointed to where they were standing as he spotted them suddenly. Colleen nodded and started the car, the girls chasing after it as they drove to the doors of the mall where Morgan and Shannon were waiting. Quickly Nick threw open the doors and the two girls dove in, Colleen driving off instantly. They gained speed and lost the teeming mass of fans.
"That was insane," Morgan stated as she picked herself up off of Nick, whom she landed on. Shannon nodded in agreement.
"I think I broke my leg," she complained as she sat up, trying to get off of Ryan. She started rubbing the offended appendage as Colleen headed home.
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